Manage your applications

To package an application, you’ll have to use the service applications.

Permissions

To see the menu entry Applications on the Portal, you need to have the permission applications=view.

Managing the applications

The list displayed is a combination of the list of available applications and a list of any new applications being built/developed.

A user will click on the button Import to select a .p6app file from the file system and upload it. The upload process will verify the signature of the publisher using the currently installed application publisher profile. If the bundle is verified, it is added to the applications list.

Applications, not currently in development, in the applications list can be downloaded and deleted.

Application installation will unpack all service configuration items and save them. It will also optionally run script modules allowing for pre and post installation customisation.

Warning

Expired applications cannot be installed.

Also, an installed application can be uninstalled.

Building a new application

The list of applications available to build is restricted to the list of installed application publisher profiles.

Clicking on the button Develop will create a new bundle from the application details and sign it using the key in the application publisher profile. The newly created application bundle will be automatically added as a new application row to the main list of applications allowing it to be downloaded and distributed at a later date.

Warning

If the application already exists (same key and version), the application publisher will not be allowed to build.

New applications in development mode can be deleted.

Double-clicking on a row will give access to the application build details form which allows a publisher to define the content of their application.

The user interface allows the publisher to select each installed service and list the service items that have an application key that matches the application that is being built. The publisher can select items from the list to include in his application. He can also select the content-mode (none, read and edit) for each service item selected.

Tip

Please read the section Manage bundled resources to understand how to add Java archives in your application.

The version and the status values can be entered. But Platform 6 does not manage application’s versions and status messages. They are treated as simple strings only. However, they can be used to help application’s users control what is installed on their instances.

Applications can optionally expire after a given period (trial versions for example). The expires after field specifies this behaviour.

Pre-Install, Post-Install and Uninstall scripts can be selected. The user interface will provide a list of scripts with matching application key to choose from.

Finally, the application’s properties list will enable a publisher to define values passed to each Install/Uninstall script. These properties will also be available at runtime to enable additional functionality.

For example, if the publisher is distributing a custom service written in Java and conforming to our ServiceComponent specification, they can add the service checksum as a property that can be validated by the Platform Manager at runtime.